The Eastern Townships region of southern Québec (known as the Estrie Region or Les Cantons de l’Est in French) is synonymous with many things. It’s home to several charming small towns and villages, like Knoltown and Magog, it’s where you’ll find the only wine Route in Québec (with over 20 vineyards spread out across the region) but it’s also a land filled with a beautiful patchwork of rolling hills interspersed with taller peaks and scenic lakes, making an ideal area for some outdoor exploration and hiking. To help you plan your next outdoor adventure, we put together this guide on the Best Hiking Trails in Eastern Townships, focusing on those we believe best maximize the effort-to-reward ratio. Most of the trails presented below are within a two-hour drive of Montreal.
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You might also be interested in these pages:
Best Hiking Trails Near Montreal
Best Hiking Trails in the Near Mont Tremblant
A Quick Primer on Quebec National Parks
Most of the trails presented below are located within a Quebec National Park. Quebec National Parks are provincial parks created by the government of Quebec. As of 2024, there are 28 such national parks, and all but four of them are administered by the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (SÉPAQ) (Nunavik Parks administer the others). Although all provincial parks in Quebec have used the term “national park” since 2002, there is no connection to the federal national park system, administered by Parks Canada.
All Quebec National Parks charge the same access fees and you can buy an annual pass that allows unlimited access to all parks.
Daily access fees and Annual passes
Quebec National Parks are managed by the SÉPAQ, a government agency that manages all provincial parks and wildlife preserves in Québec.
There is a limit to the number of visitors that can enter any Québec SÉPAQ National Park on any given day. It is therefore strongly recommended that you purchase your daily right of access online before a visit or that you acquire an annual pass.
The daily pass ($9.85 (2024)) can be purchased here up to 30 days before a visit.
The annual pass can be purchased here either for unlimited access to a single national park ($49.25 (2024)) or for unlimited access to all SÉPAQ national parks ($88.50 (2024)). Even if you have an annual pass, we still recommend arriving early in the morning or mid-to-late afternoon to avoid showing up to a filled parking lot.
If you need to book a rental vehicle for your hiking excursion, we highly recommend using Discover Cars to get the best rates on your rental in Montreal.
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Mont Orford National Park
Mont Orford National Park is home to some of the best trails in the eastern townships, including the three trails presented below. The park is situated just north of Magog, about a 90-minute drive from Montreal.
It’s one of Quebec’s oldest National parks, created in 1938. If you are looking for some elevation gain with your hikes, then you’ll love several of the trails here and it’s a particularly beautiful area to explore during autumn when the leaves turn bright orange and red. The park is also home to several lakes, with two supervised beaches (Lac Stukely and Lac Fraser beaches). Canoes, kayaks, rowboats and more can be rented at these lakes.
The park has two Service/Visitor Centres: the Cerisier Visitor Center at the southern end of the park, and the Bonnallie Visitor Center near the northern end of the park. The road that connects them can be quite scenic, particularly during autumn.
L’Escalier du Nord Trail (Mont Orford National Park)
This moderately challenging trail takes you up to the Pic the l’Ours (mountain peak) and is probably the most difficult trail presented in this guide, both because of the elevation gain and the occasional rocky and uneven terrain, which can require a bit of light scrambling. You will be greatly rewarded for your effort, however, as you will cross several panoramic viewpoints along the trail.
Distance: 12.7 km
Route Type: Out & Back
Elevation gain: 450m (cumulative elevation gain: 624 m)
Start point: La Bonnallie Car Park and Visitor Center
AllTrails rating: (4.6, 917 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 3h30-4h min
Access Fees: SEPAQ daily rate
There is another car park that’s slightly closer to the trailhead, but you would be missing out on some beautiful lakeside views. From the car park (link above; by the La Bonnallie Visitor Center), be sure to walk to Lac Stukely before starting the hike, the scenery along the lake is quite beautiful.
This trail starts relatively easy, with almost no elevation gain for the first 2.5 km along a wide This trail starts relatively easy, with almost no elevation gain for the first 2.5 km along a wide multipurpose path, initially through large conifers and later on through a serene delicious tree section.
Eventually, the trail turns into the forest (notice the signs indicating the L’Escalier du Nord) where a constant ascent awaits you over the next three kilometres. The trail is a little more technical than some of the other trails presented due to the uneven and rocky terrain, where many large rocks and tree roots make up the path.
At the 3.5 km mark, a very short detour takes you to the Escalier du Nord viewpoint (a signpost will indicate the detour to the viewpoint), where the scenery is just spectacular.
From the 5 km mark until the Pic de L’ours summit (6.5 km mark), there are several great viewpoints as the trail starts to follow a ridgeline along large open rock faces. We’ve been both in summer and autumn and the views are spectacular!
Mont Chauve – Ruisseau David Trail (Mont Orford National Park)
This is a great and popular trail taking you up the summit of Mont Chauve. You can also significantly shorten the trail by skipping the loop portion of the trail (more on this below).
Distance: 12.7 km
Route Type: Out & Back and partial loop
Elevation gain: 280m (cumulative elevation gain: 556 m)
Start point: Small Car Park (arrive early)
AllTrails rating: (4.5, 1427 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 3h30-4h min
Access Fees: SEPAQ daily rate
Not an AllTrails member yet? We highly recommend signing up for either their free or paid membership plans. The free plan allows you to find new trails and plan routes but it can only be used while hiking if you have access to mobile data. The paid membership plan (AllTrails+) allows you to download trail maps for offline use and provides live progress updates and off-route notifications.
If you are still uncertain – you should know that the All Trails mobile application was voted the 2023 iPhone App of the Year by Apple.
After a short section of narrow elevated wooden boardwalks, the trail starts to become steeper slowly and continues to do so until about the 3.5 km mark, at which point you’ll reach the intersection that marks the beginning and end point of the loop section around Mont Chauve. Here, you have two options: 1) go left to start the loop section around the Mont Chauve summit, where the trail will first descend quite a bit before rising again towards the summit, or 2) go right and straight to the viewpoints and summit where there is a large wooden belvedere (after which you can return the way you came). If you pick option #2, the trail will only be 7.5km in length and you will have removed nearly half of the elevation gain of the full trail.
Regardless of whether you do the full trail or not, you’ll get fantastic aerial views of three different lakes during the hike, first of Lake Fraser, then of the long and slim Cherry Pond (and Mont Orford in the background), and finally of the larger crescent-shaped Lake Stukely.
Pékan Trail (Mont Orford National Park)
This is a beautiful lakeside trail that follows a path that gently goes up and down several times as you loop around the Étang aux Cerises pond (a pond that honestly feels more like a lake, to be honest), with several viewpoints along the way.
Distance: 8.5 km
Route Type: Loop
Elevation gain: 60m (cumulative elevation gain: 215 m)
Start point: Cerisier Car Park and Visitor Center
AllTrails rating: (4.2, 615 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 2h-2h30
Access Fees: SEPAQ daily rate
The first half along the east side of the pond is lovely as you travel through various types of woodland, eventually climbing up to a beautiful promontory (Colline de la Serpentine) a few hundred feet above the pond. You will also get to enjoy great lakeside views during the first few hundred meters of the trail.
We prefer the first half of the trail (east side of the lake) and can suggest as an alternative that you simply turn back towards the trailhead once you’ve enjoyed the views from the Colline de la Serpentine – this will result in about a 6 km trail instead of 8.5 km.
Hiking Packing List
All Trails subscription – This comes in really handy for areas with little or no cell reception, as the annual subscription allows you to download trail maps for offline use.
External Battery – If you are using your phone to track your progress along the trail or to help with navigation, you certainly don’t want your phone to die on you. That’s especially true in the unlikely event that you might get hurt or need assistance.
Hiking poles – These can be particularly useful in steep trails or muddy/boggy trail conditions.
Coaticook Gorge Park
This park’s main attraction is its suspended bridge which crosses the Coaticook Gorge at a height of 50 metres. At 170 m (554 ft) long and 50 m (160 ft) high, the Coaticook Canyon Bridge is one of the longest suspension footbridges in North America and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Eastern Townships. To our knowledge, the Gorge is the largest one in southern Quebec, and the Coaticook Gorge Park is impressive enough to attract over 300,000 visitors every year.
Another great reason to visit this park is because if you stay into the evening, you can experience the magic of Foresta Lumina, a multimedia nighttime experience along Coaticook’s Canyon. After sunset in summer, visitors can discover an enchanted trail winding through the mysterious forest and meet characters inspired by the area’s myths and legends.
We highly recommend combining a daytime hike with an evening stroll through the. Regarding the daytime activities, the park offers over 19 km of marked trails in three different sectors, but here we will focus on our two favourite trails that can easily be combined for a half-day of fun.
George de Coaticook Trail (Coaticook Gorge Park)
If you are short on time while in the area and only have time for a short hike, this is the one to do. The trail follows the gorge shoreline, down near the water level for most of the trail and up above the gorge for the middle part of the trail, which includes the crossing of the famous Coaticook pedestrian bridge. It is recommended to walk the loop portion of the trail counter-clockwise.
Distance: 3.7 km
Route Type: Out & Back with Partial Loop
Elevation gain: 60 m (cumulative elevation gain: 96 m)
Start point: Car Park (free parking)
AllTrails rating: (4.4, 270 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 55-65 min
Access Fees: 10.50$ (2024) (you can prepay your access fee online) (reduced fares available for seniors, children and students).
The highlight of this trail is obviously the suspended bridge that passes over the gorge, but it’s quite scenic all around. The trail is neither very long nor very difficult as there is very little elevation gain throughout the trail.
Mountain Trail (Coaticook Gorge Park)
Another fun short hike in Coaticook Gorge Park is the Mountain Trail (dashed black line in the map below). It’s slightly shorter (3km) than the Gorge Trail (yellow and back trails at the bottom of the map below) and starts from the same car park. You’ll gain more elevation, however, about 80 m throughout the trail, but it remains a fairly easy trail nonetheless. It is recommended to walk the trail clockwise.
One of the trail’s main features is the tall tower lookout that you will come across about 1/3 of the trail (clockwise direction), which offers impressive views of the surrounding landscape. Like the Coaticook Gorge trail, the Mountain Trail is considered an easy trail.
If you would like to combine a day of hiking with a multimedia nighttime experience at Foresta Lumina, you can pre-book a combot-ticket online.
Yamaska National Park
(Parc National de la Yamaska) – This park is centred on the large man-made Choinière Reservoir, and due to its relatively flat terrain is popular with both hikers and cyclists alike. The vast reservoir is teeming with life. Fish, ducks and Great Blue Herons call the park home. The park is located 92 km east of Montreal, and it takes an average of 1h-1h15 to reach by car.
The Riverage Loop Trail
This Trail is actually a combination of two smaller park trails (The Pinède and The Digue trails). It’s a lovely and mostly flat trail (but with some slight undulations) through various covered woodlands, with a few open areas, particularly near the dam. Although this trail is on the longer side distance-wise, we would still consider it an easy trail as there is no significant elevation gain.
Distance: 10.8 km
Route Type: Loop
Elevation gain: 50 m (cumulative elevation gain: 110 m)
Start point: Car Park
AllTrails rating: (4.3, 205 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most people complete the trail in about 2h-2h30 min
Access Fees: SEPAQ Daily rate
Mont Sutton
Mont Sutton, like many other mountains in the Eastern Townships, is primarily for known its ski resort. However, it has also built a solid reputation as a great winter hiking destination, particularly because of its marquee trail – the Round Top. Most of the hiking trails on and around Mont Sutton are part of the Parc d’Environnement Naturel de Sutton (P.E.N.S), which is roughly 5km east of the village of Sutton and is only 10km from the Canadian-American border (Burlington (Vermont) is roughly a 90-minute drive away).
To hike any P.E.N.S trail you’ll need to pay an 8$ access fee (2024), and it is highly recommended to book ahead online, particularly during peak hiking season, when the purchased ticket will be valid only for the selected day and selected timeslot, meaning that will you have to start your hike either between 9 am and 12 pm or between 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm. Outside of peak season, the online booking system will be closed and access fees can only be paid on-site. Most of the trails are open year-round, except in late mid-to-late spring when the trails are closed to let the trails dry after the snow melts. Another exception is the Round Top Trail (described immediately below,) which is closed through the end of June during the Bicknell’s Thrush Nesting Period.
Round Top and Spruce Lake Trail (Mont Sutton)
Round Top is the trail that most people want to do when they come to Sutton, but in reality, most combine it with the Lac Spruce trail since adding the Lake detour doesn’t add too much time to the trail itinerary. Both the Round Top and combined trail lead to the highest peak of the massif, the Round Top, which culminates at 968 meters, where it offers panoramic views of the St. Lawrence plain, the Monteregiennes and Lake Champlain.
Distance: 6.0 km
Route Type: Out & back
Elevation gain: 396 m (cumulative elevation gain: 404 m)
Start point: PENS car park
AllTrails rating: (4.4, 327 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most complete this trail in 2h-2h30
Access Fees: PENS daily rate (see above)
Your first stop along the trail will be to Spruce Lake.
As you continue along the trail, the surrounding forest is becoming increasingly covered in snow, producing “ghost trees”.
When you finally reach the Round Top summit, you will be rewarded with panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.
Hollandais Trail (Mont Sutton)
This is our second favorite PENS trail. It’s also significantly less busy than the Round Top, so you are likely to encounter far fewer people.
Distance: 7.2 km
Route Type: Loop
Elevation gain: 300 m (cumulative elevation gain: 485 m)
Start point: PENS car park
AllTrails rating: (4.4, 576 ratings (2024))
Duration: Most complete this trail in 2h30-3h
Access Fees: PENS daily rate (see above)
This trail follows a large square loop path, with a long section that follows a ridgeline between two summits (Hollandais summit and Orignal summit). There are several viewpoints along the ridgeline section providing beautiful vistas of the surrounding mountains.
You’ll start the trail by mostly going downhill for the first kilometre or so, after which you’ll begin a steady climb to the first summit (Hollandais Summit). Once you’ve enjoyed the views from the summit, you’ll continue along a ridgeline that progressively ascends to the second summit.
If you would like to know more about some of the awesome PENS trails and some of the practicalities of hiking in winter conditions, check out our guide on the Best Winter Hiking Trails Near Sutton.
Winter Hiking Packing List
Crampons / Ice Cleats – These are a must-have to help you with those steep ascents/descents or navigate icy trail conditions.
External Battery – Cold weather significantly affects cell phone battery drainage. Best to be prepared with an external power source to recharge your phone if needed.
Hiking poles – These can be particularly useful in winter, especially when not wearing any crampons or ice cleats.
Hand warmers – if you are like us and often remove your gloves to take pictures, having little hotties around care be hand life savers in freezing weather.
All Trails subscription – comes in really handy for areas with little or no cell reception, as the annual subscription allows you to download trail maps for offline use.
Mont Mégantic National Park
Mont Megantic National Park in southeastern Quebec is located near the southeastern corner of the province very close to the northwestern border of Maine (USA). The park is also part of what became the first international dark sky reserve in 2007 International Dark-Sky Association, making it the perfect place to do some star gazing after a great day of hiking.
It is a special place for outdoor enthusiasts. It’s fairly remote, has beautiful mountain scenery in all seasons and is home to the Mont Mégantic Astronomical Observatory. There are several peaks that are accessible by hiking trails, including Mout-Mégantic, which is Quebec’s tenth-highest peak. In total, the park has more than 50km of hiking trails, with a range of easy, moderate and difficult hikes.
Mont Mégantic Trail
Mont Saint-Joseph Trail (Mont Mégantic National Park)
Eastern Township Trail Tips
-During the peak summer and fall months, the parking lots can fill up quickly, particularly on weekends. Try to arrive early in the morning or late afternoon to guarantee a spot.
-Mosquitoes and black flies can be a nuisance at certain times during the year. The exact dates vary from year to year, but they are generally most present from mid-May to mid-July. Regardless of when you come, it’s always a good idea to carry some bug spray with you, just in case.
-Stick to the designated path to protect the surrounding environment. Moreover, ticks are present in the Eastern townships, so straying from the trails carries additional risk.
-Best time to visit (summer hiking): we highly recommend the end of summer and early fall (August, September and October). The weather will be pleasant and the likelihood of being harassed by bugs is significantly reduced. Moreover, July is when most people in Québec take their summer holidays.
-Best time to visit (winter hiking): the winter season hiking typically runs from late November to late March. Trail conditions vary throughout the season, so be sure to check up-to-date park trail conditions. It is highly recommended to wear crampons/traction cleats under your shoes or boots when hiking any trail with significant elevation gain (see winter packing list above). In the event of large amounts of recent snowfall, you might be better off using snowshoes than hiking with boots and cleats.
Want to Discover More Hiking Trails Around Montreal?
You might be interested in these pages:
Best Hiking Trails Near Montreal
Best Hiking Trails in the Near Mont Tremblant
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
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Car Rentals
Discover Cars is our go-to website for car rentals. We almost always find our preferred rate there.
Transfer from Airport
Welcome Pickups is our favourite private transfer service, which you can pre-book at a fixed price. Currently available in 220 cities all over the world (mostly in Europe, but with several major cities in Asia, the Middle East and the US).
Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our Guide to the Best Hiking Trails in Eastern Townships (Estrie Region) and that it will prove useful for planning your hiking trip.
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